Despite another solid performance, Red Bulls’ Sam disappointed with result

Despite continuing a hot run of play at the wing, Red Bulls’ midfielder Lloyd Sam couldn’t manage a smile after New York’s deflating 1-1 draw against Colorado.

“Well we drew 1-1, so that’s all that’s on my mind right now,” he said after the match. “Like, that should have been three points I think, and after going one-nil up, to give that away, it doesn’t really matter how I played because we got to win games — especially at home.”

For the second straight match, Sam was a standout for the Red Bulls. His pinpoint cross into the box found a diving Thierry Henry for the first notch of the evening. “Where I had the ball, I knew that if I put it towards the back post there would be a couple of guys there,” he said. “In my head, I would have thought Tim [Cahill] before Thierry, but I was happy that he converted it.”

Head coach Mike Petke commended the wingers resurgence after the match. “He’s head and shoulders above where he was last year at this time. Came in with a good attitude, worked hard and he focused on what we want out of him as a right-sided midfielder. I’m very happy with Lloyd.”

While registering his second assist of this young season, Sam’s personal accomplishments were dampened by a dreary team performance.

“Yeah, I’ll tell you we gave it away,” he said. “We shouldn’t even put that up to question to be a call. There was no real danger at the time. Obviously it’s done now and we got one point. It’s not good enough.”

‘Giving it away’ has become as much of an identity in the first two matches of the season as ‘continuity’ was this offseason. Petke used that exact phrase last week when describing the loss to Vancouver. Despite a controversial penalty, many of the Red Bull players and staff felt the same way about drawing the Rapids — particularly when analyzing their response after the PK call.

Surprisingly, Sam commended the work of the replacement refs throughout the match, and did little to question the call in the box. Instead, he argues New York should never have been in that position in the first place.

“It’s one of those that sometimes [the referees] give it, sometimes they don’t,” he said. “Maybe outside the box they’ll give it more than inside the box, but it was given and we shouldn’t even put that up to debate.”